Advocates call for more salary transparency on Equal Pay Day

Tuesday on “Equal Pay Day,” California women’s rights advocates highlighted a proposal to require employers to be more transparent about what they’re paying their workers. A bill would mandate companies with more than 250 employees report the median pay for men and women.

Jessica Stender is with Stronger California, which advocates for equal pay. She says the progress on the gender pay gap has slowed down partly because employers don’t know they have a gap.

“There really isn’t much transparency. Companies aren’t aware of differences between men and women’s salaries… Workers themselves aren’t aware. So many workers, women workers, will learn after many years of working that they’re earning thousands of dollars less than their male counterparts," Stender said.

President Obama issued a similar order requiring companies to report gender-based pay data, but it’s unclear whether it will take effect under President Trump.

The National Chamber of Commerce has called for Trump to reconsider Obama’s order, saying it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars for businesses across the country to compile the data.

Equal Pay Day falls on a Tuesday in April to signify the average amount of time a woman would have to work into the next year to make the amount of money a man made last year.